Racism and the Red Sox

In Major League Baseball today, race is not something of a problem anymore. African Americans play with other African Americans. Japanese play with other Japanese. Dominicans play with Hispanics and Puerto Ricans, who all play with Whites. As professionals in a business that span the interests of America's melting pot, they are all treated with the same respect, responsibility, and authority. Each man is viewed and critiqued on the type of ball player he is, not by the color of his skin.

Although that wasn't always the case. In Leslie Heaphy's article Baseball and the Color Line, he discusses the history of African Americans throughout baseball. There was a booming popularity of the Negro Leagues amongst black communities as that was the only place the sport and the colored man could be together. After WWII, possibilities of integration were being discussed. Heaphy said, "... it became harder to argue that both black and white young men could fight and die for their country, but not play baseball together."

To much dismay, the Red Sox were the last major league team to cross the color line and sign an African American player. Jackie Robinson signed with the Dodgers in 1945 and Pumpsie Green signed with Boston in 1959. He came from their Triple AAA team but never really became a regular player. It wasn't until 1962 when Earl Wilson began a five year run with the Sox and became a regular in the rotation. The Red Sox integration 14 years after Robinson entered the major leagues was half-hearted.

MLB.com profiled countless players during the month of February as a part of Black History Month. They just so happened to focus on left fielder Tommy Harper and his accomplishments playing in a Red Sox uniform. He held the record for stolen bases, 54, in 1973, which happened to be the same year he was voted MVP for the Red Sox. He was a great player for Boston but did not have fond feelings for Fenway and Red Sox fans for quite sometime. African American fans weren't welcomed whole heartedly into Fenway Park. The majority of people who went to see the Red Sox play were white.

When asked about having colored skin in Boston, Harper said, "Sometimes people think it's an exaggeration from the fans who said, 'I didn't feel comfortable, I didn't feel welcome at Fenway Park.' I'm going to tell you the truth. They were right. How could they feel comfortable when I wasn't? And I was on the field. I know what they were talking about." He says he was constantly hearing racial slurs from the stands and had no intention but to get to Fenway, work, and get out of there. Even after 14 years of playing in Boston, African Americans still did not feel worthy enough to be there.

John Henry, Larry Lucchino, and Tom Werner took over in 2002. They had every intention of cleaning up their awful reputation and making a new name for the organization. Pumpsie Green comes back for team events, but refused to until new ownership took over. Can we blame him?

Risky Business

As we saw in Moneyball, Billy Beane is one to take many risks when it comes to selectively choosing a roster. He picks the underdogs and shapes them, signs players with contracts worth nothing, and changes player's familiar positions and places them else where. As of today, there is a chance that the Oakland A's will pick up Manny Ramirez. Talk about taking a risk.

According to NESN and the San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland could potentially sign Manny Ramirez as their DH soon after the start of spring training. Ramirez, 39, played the first five games of the 2011 season with the Rays before he declared his retirement. This fell coincidentally after he was caught with steroids, which means if he were to come out of retirement he would be suspended for the first 50 games of the season.

Signing Manny is an interesting leap of faith. When he played as an outfielder in Boston, he seemed to be a consistent hitter, but occasionally lacked enthusiasm in left field. This laziness and bad attitude was just the excuse that Manny was being Manny. The A's signing Manny and giving him a second chance in the major leagues will be risky. First of all, he is 39 years old. He could potentially come back for one season just because of that. His statistics, although still close to a .300 batting average, have decreased and he hasn't played for over a year. At this point, who wants him? He can't play the first 50 games, has a past of taking steroids, is a little rusty, has an attitude problem and his age doesn't help. There isn't talk of what his contract may be worth, but assuming the A's are the only ones offering anything, it won't be very large. No one else wants him so he will most likely settle for anything.

Just like in Moneyball, Beane signing Manny is a similar situation to when he signed David Justice. The Yankees didn't want him anymore, he had a nasty attitude, and he was coming to the end of his career. Beane gave him a second chance. If things go Beane's way, are we looking at Manny's comeback?


Source: http://www.nesn.com/2012/02/report-athletics-likely-to-sign-manny-ramirez-before-or-soon-after-start-of-spring-training.html